"You've Got to Stand for Something" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Aaron Tippin Aaron Dupree Tippin (born July 3, 1958) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Nashville in 1990. His debut single, "You've Got to ...

. It was released in October 1990 as his debut single and the title track to his album ''

You've Got to Stand for Something ''You've Got to Stand for Something'' is the debut studio album byAmerican country music artist Aaron Tippin. The title track was Tippin's first chart entry, peaking at #6 on the '' Billboard'' country charts in 1991. Also released from this albu ...

''. It reached the top ten on the country singles chart in early 1991. Tippin wrote the song with

Buddy Brock Buddy Brock is an American country music songwriter. His biggest hits to date are "Watermelon Crawl," co-written with Zack Turner, which reached the #4 spot on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart and made the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a dance ...

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Reco ...

later recorded the song in 1992 and released it as a single that year.

Content

"You've Got to Stand for Something" is a mid-tempo, exemplifying the patriotic

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

themes that would show up in many of his later songs as well. In it, the narrator recalls the life lessons taught to him by his father, who told him that he should stand up for his moral convictions. In 1990, comedian

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

heard Tippin perform the song, and invited Tippin to sing it on his

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tour for soldiers who were serving in the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

at the time.

Music video

This was his first music video and was directed by Bing Sokolsky and premiered in early 1991.

Chart history

Year-end charts

References

{{Charley Pride singles 1990 debut singles 1990 songs Aaron Tippin songs Charley Pride songs Song recordings produced by Emory Gordy Jr. Songs written by Aaron Tippin Songs written by Buddy Brock RCA Records singles